"On 2 June at 9am, a family of
six, including an infant, and three men who wished to apply for
international protection in Greece because of persecution in
Turkey were handed over by Greek police to a group of masked
gunmen. The refoulement was witnessed and the HLHR has in its
disposal the license plate numbers of the Greek police van that
transferred the asylum seekers. The new refoulement took place
in Evros by boat, near Didymoteicho, and involved Mustafa Can,
his wife and their four children, as well as Yilmaz Erdogan,
Fethullah Çatal, and one more man, whose name is still
not known.

(...)

The informal and forced refoulement
of any person is considered an act of violence and is a blatant
violation of international law and the international obligations
of our country."

"The Civil Liberties Commission
of the European Parliament on Tuesday [30 May 2017] approved
fingerprinting asylum seekers as young as six in order to facilitate
reunification with their parents. Under current EU law asylum
seekers can be fingerprinted only from the age of 14. The measure
was part of a package of amendments to an overhaul of the Eurodac
fingerprint database, which were approved with 35 yes votes,
10 no votes and 8 abstentions. The MEPs also greenlighted the
start of negotiations with the European Council in view of a
definitive agreement. Under the changes, detention of minors
should be prohibited. In addition, unaccompanied minors who disappear
from reception facilities should be recorded in the Schengen
Information System (SIS) and reported as missing persons. MEPs
also voted to give the European police force Europol direct access
to the Eurodac data base in order to prevent terrorist attacks
and common crimes. In addition to fingerprints, the system should
also allow the search and comparison of facial images and other
personal data, such as name and identity document number when
this information is available."

"How can the responsibility for
refugees be distributed more fairly  globally and within
the EU? And how can we curb irregular migration while expanding
legal immigration to the benefit of all concerned? The large
number of refugees and other migrants who have come to Europe
over the last two years has caused the EU member states that
received most of the asylum seekers, to reach their capacity
limits. With a view to new arrivals and their long-term integration,
it is now necessary to develop new and, above all, common strategies
to address the migration flows to Europe.

The 2017 MEDAM Assessment Report focuses
on two core Messages:

Distribute the responsibility for refugees
more equitably
Extending legal immigration from non-EU Member States into EU
member states"

"In spite of the quote attributed
to Einstein Not everything that counts can be counted,
and not everything that can be counted counts, a large
part of the current European debate on relocation is about numbers.
Out of 387,739 people requiring international protection who
arrived at the borders of the European Union (EU) in 2016, 362,376
travelled by sea through unseaworthy boats and 5,082 were reported
dead or missing. This year alone, 58,944 migrants and asylum
seekers arrived in Italy and 7,676 in Greece, with numbers rising
by the day. 73,900 refugees are stranded in Greece and the Western
Balkans. In stark contrast stand the 18,418 people relocated
to the other 25 EU Member States following the European Commissions
report of May 2017 on relocation, as opposed to the 160,000 relocations
envisaged by the EU.

Even if the European Commission heralded
the progress made, the underlying frustration with both the Commission
and civil society is palpable. The Commission has already indicated
that it will not hesitate to make use of its powers under the
Treaties for those which have not complied with the Council decisions,
noting that the legal obligation to relocate those eligible will
not cease after September, hinting at its preparedness to start
infringement proceedings under art. 258 Treaty on the Functioning
of the EU (TFEU). Judges could play a role in enforcing the relocation
numbers. After providing a brief background to the relocation
decisions and the underlying principles, we remind the upcoming
case on relocation filed by Hungary and Slovakia at the European
Court of Justice and underline a case started by the NGO Lets
bring them here in the Netherlands, both posing the question
of what the numbers pledged actually count for."

"VILNIUS, Lithuania  Lithuania
has started building a fence on its border with the Russian exclave
of Kaliningrad in an attempt to curb smuggling and illegal immigration
and strengthen the EUs external border.

State border officials on Monday kicked
off construction works of the first segment of the 130-kilometer
(80-mile) -long metal fence at the Raminiskiu village in a ceremony
attended by the Lithuanian Interior Minister Eimutis Misiunas.

The installation comes complete with
electronic surveillance systems and drones. It will cost some
3.6 million euros ($3.9 million) in total and is to be completed
by the end of this year."

"[The Advocate
General] reiterates the unprecedented inflow of persons into
the Western Balkans and the fact that no bespoke criterion was
inserted into the Dublin III Regulation to cover that situation.
In the Advocate Generals opinion, if border Member States,
such as Croatia, are deemed to be responsible for accepting and
processing exceptionally high numbers of asylum seekers, there
is a real risk that they will simply be unable to cope with the
situation. This in turn could place Member States in a position
where they are unable to comply with their obligations under
EU and international law."

"The interconnections between border
management, migration and internal security have become more
apparent recently in the context of high inflows of refugees
and irregular migrants and of increasing terrorist activities
in the EU. To address these challenges, the EU has taken steps
to revise and develop the European information systems in order
to improve the collection, processing and sharing of data among
Member States and relevant EU agencies. This publication provides
an overview of the existing and proposed European information
systems in the area of justice and home affairs. It discusses
the legal basis, the purposes, the scope of data and access,
the utilisation and the proposed changes for each information
system, including issues of interoperability."

"European funds in exchange for
greater border controls. Easier repatriations. Quicker expulsions.
In a word: border externalisation. By now this is the main point
of the external aspect of immigration and asylum policies, both
nationally and internationally. The objective is clear: to get
the countries of origin and the transit countries more and more
involved in controlling the flows towards the European Union.
Which is what Italy and Europe have chosen to do. They are doing
this independently and also in the name of the European Union.
The fact that this perspective on immigration policies has been
intensified can be seen from the funds that have been allocated."

"A Syrian refugee, a Christian
of Armenian origin, who lived for about a year in Turkey under
the precarious temporary protection regime without
access to lawful work and housing and at risk of losing his temporary
status and be deported to Syria has been under risk of readmission
to Turkey in implementation of the EU-Turkey Joint statement.
During his stay in Turkey, B.J. had to conceal his religious
and ethnic identity for fear of being discriminated. The applicant
entered Greece after the Implementation of the EU-Turkey Joint
Statement and applied for international protection. In June 2016.
The competent Greek authorities issued a final decision on his
request ruling his application as inadmissible considering Turkey
as a safe third country for him.

RSPAs Lawyers, members of Refugee
Support Aegean (RSA) found the detainee in the Police station
while at risk of readmission. RSA lawyers lodged all available
domestic remedies against the rejection of his asylum claim as
inadmissible as well as against the decision ordering his readmission
to Turkey, requesting his release. They also requested to refer
a question to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of the wording
international protection according to the Geneva Convention.

B.J. and his lawyers also lodged an
application before the European Court of Human Rights complaining
for the violation of Article 3 and 13 of the ECHR (protection
from inhuman or degrading treatment and deportation to a country
where it may be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or
torture)."

"At June 7th, 2017 the news came
out that a court ordered the eviction of City Plaza Refugee Accommodation
and two other refugee squats in Athens.

Projects like City Plaza succeed in
where the Greek goverment and other EU member states fail; a
self-determined life, a life with dignity for those who travelled
to a putative Europe under extrem hard conditions. A life where
it doesnt matter which papers people have but instead a
life where people can live together in a self-organised way.

Since the former City Plaza hotel was
squatted more than a year ago, after the building was empty for
several years, more than 1500 people lived in the building. 400
at any one time. Among them where many refugees and supporters
from many countries. While EU member states closed their borders,
sharpened their asylum laws, detaining and deporting more and
more refugees, people in Athens have buildup self-organised projects
like City Plaza together with refugees."

&COPY; Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X.
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